The Blue Book

[timberseal]

Just met with an advertising rep from the Blue Book. Curious as to what kind of work and experience some of you have had with them. We're looking to go in the Building Cleaning Contractors and Sandblasting / Water blasting catagories but I'm wondering if it's worth paying for an ad or or just take the free listing.

Any takers ? :)

[Innovativewash]

Just met with an advertising rep from the Blue Book. Curious as to what kind of work and experience some of you have had with them. We're looking to go in the Building Cleaning Contractors and Sandblasting / Water blasting catagories but I'm wondering if it's worth paying for an ad or or just take the free listing.

Any takers ? :)

What does it cost for an ad in the Blue Book? Just curious.

[timberseal]

I was quoted a range of $144 to $744 a month for display ads and priority placement on the website for two catagories.

[Carolina ProWash]

We pay $71 for a display, in-column and two regions on the website. Defining your bid parameters is NOT quite as simple as they make it seem - but we also advertise for services for buildings that are still on paper. For what you're offering, it may be completely different.

Celeste

[timberseal]

Do you get some consistant leads from the book Celeste? She sent me over a list of leads that came through over the past 8 months but I couldn't get the detail on them. Some physically requested pressure washing but most did not specify what they were requesting a bid for.

Just curious as to the quality of leads. There's actually alot of companies under the catagories were looking at - primarily in the Chicagoland region.

[chappy]

I get a ton of blue book leads from my free listing.
They are 99% out of my area. Things like new gas station cleanup, new building cleanup. Mostly small jobs that are probably going to go to low bidders, although I just don't respond to most so I can't say that for sure.
My thoughts are to spend your money marketing directly to your demographic.
Put in the free listing and monitor it for a year before you commit to a paid add.

[Henry Bockman]

I've done paid listings with them in the past and I think I have one ending this year actually. Not worth the money in my opinion.

[A-OK Pressure Wasing]

What is "The Blue Book"?
Thanks
Attila

[Carolina ProWash]

Do you get some consistant leads from the book Celeste? She sent me over a list of leads that came through over the past 8 months but I couldn't get the detail on them. Some physically requested pressure washing but most did not specify what they were requesting a bid for.

Just curious as to the quality of leads. There's actually alot of companies under the catagories were looking at - primarily in the Chicagoland region.

We get lots of bid requests regularly......like I said, for what we advertise mainly for (new construction brick/block cleaning) it's difficult to "qualify" the quality of these leads since a large part of the time these buildings are still on paper - ground not even broken.

The single largest reason we have maintained our presence in the Blue Book is to demonstrate longevity and some form of credibility. It has not hurt us at all to be able to say we've been in the book now for 7 years and they (those who use it regularly) can verify how long we've been around and doing this type work. Many who are asking for bids recently have already taken notice of this.

Another considerable perk are the networking events that the Blue Books hosts for their users. We made some exceptional contacts at the last one we attended.

In this day of "get the cheapest guy out there", you'd be surprised at the number of GC's (in our case) who would prefer to just know what they're getting for their money and are thrilled to have us on speed dial. We can attribute that directly to the Blue Book.

Celeste

[Carolina ProWash]

Attila -

It's The Blue Book of Construction. Most anyone in the construction business, who wants to be in the construction business is listed....General Contractors, plumbers, framers, glass companies, block companies, cement companies, etc..... find a place there. It is a nationwide publication.

Celeste